Almanac

Menlo Park men arrested after attempted kidnapping

by Kevin Forestieri

Mountain View police arrested two Menlo Park men in the early morning of April 14 after they allegedly tried to push a woman into a car and threatened her friends with a handgun when they tried to intervene.

Police say that the two suspects reportedly approached the victim while she was walking behind a restaurant in the 200 block of Castro Street around 2 a.m. and tried to push her into a nearby vehicle, according to a statement released by the Mountain View Police Department on Sunday.

The woman and the two suspects struggled, and two men identified as friends of the woman tried to intervene, police said. One of the suspects allegedly retrieved a handgun from the car during the altercation and pointed it at one of the woman's friends.

Both suspects then got back into the vehicle and drove away, reportedly firing off several gunshots, police said.

A nearby officer spotted the suspects as they were driving away and stopped the vehicle. The two suspects were not initially cooperative, but complied when backup officers arrived, according to police spokeswoman Katie Nelson.

Police arrested the men, identified as 29-year-old Guillermo Perez and 19-year-old Walter Ramirez, and found the handgun that was allegedly used during the incident. Both men are facing a list of charges including kidnapping, conspiracy to commit a crime, possession of a "short-barrel shotgun," carrying a loaded firearm in public, brandishing a firearm and making criminal threats.

Mr. Perez is also facing additional charges for discharging a firearm with gross negligence, as well as possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon, which is illegal under California law.

Mr. Ramirez faces an additional criminal charge for enabling Mr. Perez to fire a gun from the car. Both men were booked into Santa Clara County jail.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for the suspects' Menlo Park home and found several rounds of ammunition and a Taser, police said. Police would not disclose where in Menlo Park the suspects live.

Police say the investigation into the incident is ongoing, and that detectives are determining whether there was a relationship between the victim and the two suspects.

This story contains 356 words.

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